Fastening device



Aug. 17, 1965 MARZOCCHI FASTENING DEVICE Filed Dec. 26, 1962 United States Patent 3,200,458 FASTENHNG DEVICE Lorenzo Marzocchi, via Bellinzona 38/2, Bologna, Italy Filed Dec. 26, 1962, Ser. No. 247,151 Claims priority, application Italy, Dec. 30, 1961, 23,570/ 61 1 Claim. (Cl. 24-71) The present invention concerns shoes in general and in particular is concerned with the type of shoe with uppers extending in correspondence with the instep in two borders which can be closed by means of laces or similar.

The shoes of the above specified type have the advantage of allowing, within certain limits, a fitting to the shape of the foot by varying the tightening tension applied to the borders of the uppers, this however requires the tedious operation of tying and untying the laces every time the shoe has to be taken off or put on, which can be a difiicult operation for elderly or stout people or for invalids.

A first important object of the invention is to provide a shoe as above specified composed of uppers with borders which can be closed by means of laces or similar in which the opening and closing of said borders are not subordinated to the untying and tying of said laces.

Another object of the invention is to provide a shoe as above specified with the laces of the upper having principally the function of a regulating element of the closing tension of said borders of the uppers; the parts being disposed in such a way that said closing tension can be regulated once in a while and subsequently kept constant.

A further object of the invention is to provide a shoe of comfortable use in which the closing and opening of the borders of the uppers can be actuated with a simple and easy manoeuvre attainable eventually even without using the hands.

The invention will be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of the front area of a shoe in accordance with the invention showing the edges of the uppers in a closed position; and

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the borders of the uppers in the opened position.

In general, a shoe in accordance with the invention is composed of uppers extending in correspondence of the instep in two edges and 11 which can be closed by means of laces 12 which engage, in correspondence of at least one border, closing lever means which can move transversely and relatively to said borders to transmit a tension to the laces previously tied.

In the preferred form of actuation shown in the drawings, the closing means include, in correspondence of border 11 of the uppers, a portion of border 13 having one side, hereinafter referred to as the external side, eyelets 14 for the passage of the laces. The portion 13 is connected to the border 11 by means of two crank levers respectively 15 and 16, each having one end engaged by an articulated joint with the other side, hereinafter referred to as the internal side, of the portion of the border itself; said ends of the levers being preferably connected by a rigid crosspiece element contained and able to rotate in a tubular seating 17 of said internal side. The further ends of the levers 15 and 16 are pivotally engaged in articulation eyelets 18 and 19 of a supporting plate 20 preferably connected by means of rivets 21 to the border 11 of the uppers. The above said levers are further disposed sideways to the portion of border 13 and the axis of the articulation eyelets 18 and 19 is set above the plane of the supporting plate 20 in a position substantially higher than the thickness d of said portion 13. With ice such a disposition of the parts, the portion of border can be rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow B from the opening Pe i tion shown in FIG. 2 in which the levers 15 and 16 are Tying in direction of the traction exercised by the laces, into the closing position shown in FIG. 1 in which the levers are rotated in the opposite direction to the action of said traction beyond the dead centre of their rotation.

It is therefore evident that to put the shoe on or take it olf it will be sufiicient to loosen the tension of the laces without undoing the knot, simply by acting on the portion of border 13 to provoke the rotation in the above said closing and opening position respectively.

According to a variation of the invention directly deriving from the above description and therefore not shown in the drawing, the tightening laces are engaged, in correspondence of at least one of said borders with eyelets carried by click closing levers acting perfectly in the same way to the levers 15 and 16 above described to confer a tension to the laces previously knotted.

The above said variation is advantageously used in shoes extending above the ankle, in other words boots.

In fact for this type of shoe the use of a mobile portion of border as above described could be difiicult in view of the extension that the said portion would assume.

According to a further variation also immediately perceived by intuition from the above description and not shown in the. drawing, the above said closing means are composed of two crank levers articulated to a border of the uppers in correspondence of the two areas at the side of the closing laces and connected by an end rigid crosspiece set transversely to the laces and positioned below the same. With such disposition of the parts, the knotted lace which connects the two borders of the uppers is engaged by contact in the space between two opposed eyelets with the connecting crosspiece of the levers whose rotation around the articulation centres compels the crosspiece to describe a trajectory according to an arc of a circle which determines in one sense of rotation a traction of the laces, and in the opposite sense a loosening of the same.

Therefore in the closing position of the borders of the uppers, the laces connect the eyelets of the borders instead of the normal connecting crosspiece, according to two lengths partially overlapping and separated by said crosspiece. Naturally the invention is not limited to the described examples, but numerous variations may be pos- 'sible for the technician on the basis of the above description and illustration and of the following claim.

What I claim is:

A shoe comprising an upper formed with two oppositely disposed edge portions adapted to be drawn together, a plurality of eyelets provided along one of said edge portions for passage of a shoelace therethrough, a separate closing portion, a plurality of eyelets provided along one side of said closing portion for passage of said shoelace therethrough, two crank levers each pivotally mounted at one end on said other edge portion and at their other ends respectively pivotally engaging the ends of the side of said closing portion opposite said side provided with the eyelets, whereby said closing portion can be swung from an open position in which said crank levers extend in the direction of the tension exerted by said shoelace upon being tied to a closed position in which said crank levers extend, following their rotation, in a direction opposite to that of the tension exerted by said tied shoelace, and said two crank levers being pivotally mounted on said other edge portion at a height above its surface greater than the thickness of said closing portion, whereby said crank levers, when said closing portion is moved to its closed position, are rotated beyond the dead center of their rotation.

References Cited by the Examiner 2,012,188 8/35 French 24--71 UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS 12/75 Edmister 24140 82,608 8/95 Germany.

7/83 Hunley 24-71 10/87 Loder 24-71 5 WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner.

4/ 02 Laws 24-71 DONLEY J. STOCKING M. HENS N wo 10/30 Darling 24 71 O fj fi j 

